The Evolution of Sound: A Journey through Audio Technology
Good, good, good – good vibrations – la la la!
It’s as simple as waves in motion, vibrations that move through the air and three little bones that get shaking. A nerve carries that impulse to your brain and Bam! It’s magic in your mind.
Long before the Burtone Connect 200 Wireless Speaker could see you getting jiggy with the masses and at a massive range with CSB technology, David Edward Hughs gifted mankind with what he referred to as the audio equivalent of the microscope- The Microphone (cue the awe).
Who would have thunk it, that the Telephone would be a part of this acoustic journey – and yet, Alexander Graham Bell features in 1876 – all because the Telephone was considered to be a “loudspeaker” like device.
1898 was a big year for sound, with the forebear of the loudspeaker, Oliver Lodge creating the true moving coil loudspeaker.
Even though the 1800s had much in the form of obscure sound, it was in 1906 that amplification became a reality in the form of the Audion.
The Audion could amplify electrical signal and in the subsequent years, this technology became known by the masses – through the Magnavox which saw both speech and music being amplified publicly.
Music has been a major driving force for many things in life, and advancement in audio technology is no exception. With the invention of the electric guitar and the advent of Rock’n’roll – it was clear that the need for greater amplification was not simply necessary, it was non-negotiable in every sense of the word. Multichannel consoles saw the first operational amplifiers being a part of professional audio equipment.
The evolution of sound grew, with two factors spurring on the growth. It was the Montgomery International Pop Festival (which was actually the first large music festival- Coachella who?) And ” Hair” the Broadway musical. Both saw the high-powered sound system and illustrated a need, a gap in technology that needed to be filled.
At this point, amplification had been achieved and the focus began the shift in the direction of quality. It was a far cry from your Burtone Wireless Bluetooth Speaker – the Mini Connect 2.
The ability to affect the quality of the sound being amplified came in 1975, with the first Digital Reverberation Unit – Model 250. The idea behind this was to create an auditory experience that was unable to differentiate between recorded audio and sound that was truly live. Playback was becoming powerful, and fans of music were eating up those soundbytes like hot cakes.
Nobody can forget the age of Dolby Digital being an absolute giant in the sound game. It was in 1990 (hey, Millennial), that Dolby gave us the home theatre system which comprised of a five-channel surround sound scheme. At this point, digital systems were replacing analogue systems rapidly and it was truly an era that can only be referred to as experiential. One had to feel the music, experience the sound of the movie – become one with it.
The digital systems brought about immense benefit. Unlike its analogue counterpart, copies of recordings did not lose their integrity – the quality did not degrade. There was convenience in the context of transmission, storage, manipulation, and even retrieval. Talk about an upgrade (Go Beyonce`). When it comes to where we’re at now in this journey of audio technology and the evolution of sound, lighter materials play a role, and size matters. An aspect of flexibility to take your sound into every arena of your life. it’s all about absolute power, absolute quality, absolute convenience, absolute Burtone!